Dust Cover For Workbench?

[AaronLee]

I've never been overly concerned about dust getting into any equipment in the past, but I'm going to be investing quite a bit into a workbench at home, which is a first for me. Previously I've only had workbenches at offices where I've worked. Being it's my own equipment, I have a few concerns.

1. It's kind of hard to dust around lots of test equipment, cables, etc. on a workbench. I doubt the dust will cause any harm to the equipment, but attempting to dust under and around everything could result in some damage if I'm careless in my cleaning and knock stuff over or drop something. Being I'll still be working at my job at my office, my personal workbench will only see use on the weekends, meaning over 90% of the time it'll be covered from dust, etc. when not in use, and less than 10% of the time the dust cover will be off when I'm using it. So theoretically dust will accumulate about 10% of the rate compared to not using any cover.

2. This will be at my home, which isn't very big, and the only place for the workbench is in the main living area. If people come into my house, I'm not totally comfortable with tens of thousands of dollars of equipment being on display. For both security reasons, and for reasons that I don't want friends and acquaintances wrongly thinking I have money to burn on expensive gear.

3. Just for my place looking better when guests are over, having the workbench covered will eliminate it being an eyesore. I'm far from being the neatest person, as I prefer stuff I use all the time to be at an arm's reach on top of my desk.

Do any of you use any sort of cover for your workbench? I was thinking of just using an old bedsheet as the cover. That shouldn't cause any issues with any of the equipment, should it? Or any recommendations for what material to use for a dust cover if not a cotton sheet? By the way, if it matters any, I do firmware mostly (MCU/CPU plus FPGA/DSP), so my equipment is based around that.

[Ian.M]

An old bedsheet dragged over equipment will shed lint.  Its better than dust but not ideal!  OTOH in a domestic environment there's probably lint in the air anyway.  However if it snags on anything on a high shelf while you are removing it, you risk dragging the item off the shelf and it crashing down on your bench and anything on it.  Its also a PITA to place and remove, probably requiring you to climb on your bench.

Consider a full width roller blind^* mounted to the wall (or preferably the ceiling) above the top shelf at the back of your bench, that pulls down and secures under the front edge of your bench top.  You'll also need sides - either rigid panels permanently fitted or blind fabric, with a rod stiffening the front edge which fastens to the top shelf and front bench corners, so the side fabric only needs tensioning towards the back corners.

I wouldn't worry too much about (2) unless you habitually invite drug addicts and other low-lives into your home.  The few normal people that recognize and know the value of your test equipment are probably fellow engineers and are statistically unlikely to have criminal intent or to be loose-lipped about other people's gear and its location.  OTOH you do want to avoid your gear being visible in the background of images posted on social media that may get linked to your location . . .

* You may be able to acquire a used chiller cabinet night blind cheaply from a shop clearance.

[madires]

In my experience people become even more curious when you're trying to hide something. Simply tell your guests that it's used or broken equipment you got for a few bucks and that you repaired the broken stuff. A drawback could be that someone will ask you to repair his TV. Don't worry too much about dust. You can't escape it unless you live in a cleanroom.

[Kerlin]

There is definitely a need to hide gear from visitors.
I am interested to see any suggestions, making assumptions on the reasons to hide gear is not useful, there are many.
Technically ill informed and conspiracy theory type people are every where now.
I have higher powered ham radio gear that I don't want neighbors to see. The minute they see it and ask what it is they then are inclined to imagine that many of their household problems are due to radio transmitters, ask any ham.
That ranges from interference to entertainment equipment to the possibility of it causing them cancer.
Then they are famous for getting on to authorities about it. Even though you meet the authorities regulatory requirements they still shut you down as they are almost bound to comply with public perceptions.
I do the same with my micro development work bench.
I use a high quality flat black coloured cotton sheet it doesn't shed lint and keep this stuff in a room where visitors don't go.

I did see a cool looking picture of roll top desk used as a ham shack but found such furniture unsuitable to changes in equipment and cabling.
They do look cool when used to house ham gear and when the top is rolled down they look just like an innocent study desk.

[AaronLee]

Thank for all the replies.

What I decided on is to get a regular 1.8m (7 foot) desk, and some quick-setup shelves behind the desk, for the full length of it. Then I'll install a DIY rollup cover at the top of the shelving, to cover just the shelving, and install some permanent sides on the shelving. All the expensive gear will go on the shelving at the rear, and if any expensive gear needs to be in closer proximity to me, I can move it temporarily onto my desk and then put it back onto the shelf when finished, and pull down the cover to hid the gear.

As mentioned, trying to cover the entire desk might mean the sheet/cover would easily snag on equipment and tear the cover and/or knock over items while the cover is being removed. So the vertical rollup cover just in front of the shelves should solve that problem, I think. If I need the cover to extend down to the floor, there will need to be a bit of a gap between the desk and shelving, but I don't think that'll make much of a problem.

One further reason for me keeping the gear covered and out of sight is my desire to not show it to friends who might want to borrow it. At the previous company I worked for, they had a very liberal policy of sharing equipment. Each year tens of thousands of dollars of equipment I needed to do my job was damaged due to coworkers borrowing it and damaging it, due to carelessness, inexperience, etc. My boss was the worst offender, so I couldn't easily complain to him about the stupidity of the policy of allowing anyone to borrow any other person's equipment. Well, I know most all my friends / acquaintances would be conscientious about using someone's personal stuff, but still if it's not your own, or you don't know how to use it well, it's only a matter of time before it gets abused / damaged. It's far easier to just keep the equipment hidden, so nobody knows it's there, so nobody will want to borrow it.

As for questionable people entering my home, I really don't have control over who a delivery person, inspector, installer is, who might need to enter my home as part of their job.